Gas turbine systems are widely utilized in fields such as power generation. A conventional gas turbine system includes a compressor, a combustor, and a turbine. During operation of the gas turbine system, various components in the system are subjected to high temperature flows, which can cause the components to fail. Since higher temperature flows generally result in increased performance, efficiency, and power output of the gas turbine system, the components that are subjected to high temperature flows must be cooled to allow the gas turbine system to operate at increased temperatures.
Various strategies are known in the art for cooling various gas turbine system components. For example, a cooling medium may be routed from the compressor and provided to various components. In the compressor and turbine sections of the system, the cooling medium may be utilized to cool various compressor and turbine components.
Buckets are one example of a hot gas path component that must be cooled. For example, various parts of the bucket, such as the airfoil, the platform, the shank, and the dovetail, require cooling. Thus, various cooling passages and cooling circuits may be defined in the various parts of the bucket, and cooling medium may be flowed through the various cooling passages and cooling circuits to cool the bucket.
Specifically, various strategies are known for cooling the platform. For example, a cooling circuit may be provided in the platform, and cooling medium may be supplied directly to this cooling circuit to cool the platform. However, various difficulties may be encountered in providing the cooling medium directly to the platform cooling circuit. For example, in many cases, the cooling medium provided directly to the platform is relatively cooler than would be desired to cool the platform, and thus results in uneven cooling of the platform and high thermal gradients in the platform.
Thus, an improved apparatus and method for treating, such as cooling, a bucket would be desired. Specifically, an improved apparatus and method for providing cooling medium to a platform cooling circuit in a bucket would be advantageous.